scaryblog

A Brucie Bonus as I continue my trip forward in time through the album charts 15/09/23 :  Top Ten New Entries   There were four new entries in the top ten this week - three of which I quite fancied checking out.  And, wonder of wonders, I actually remembered to do so and then I checked out the other one as well because I didn't want it feeling left out.  And then I even checked out the next new entry as well!  And obviously I'm unable to listen to new albums without writing about it - so here we are. Sea Of Mirrors - The Coral (#3) This is our second visit with the slightly off-beat Scousers - last time I found it a bit quirky but thought it had potential to be a grower if I revisited it (but I never did).  They've dialled the quirk back a bit on this one which I appreciated but once again it feels like it needs multiple listens to really get into it, but if you like this sort of thing then I think you'll probably like it (does that make sense?).  Int...

Continuing my trip back through the 1956 album charts. 09/12/56 : Rock 'n Roll Stage Show  - Bill Haley And His Comets I think "Rock Around The Clock" is the only Bill Haley track I know - I'm expecting this to be pretty similar, but apart from that I've got nothing. Well, it's similar in places but very different in others - I certainly wasn't expecting an accordion-lead instrumental to feature ("A Rockin' Little Tune") and it sounded just like the sort of thing you hear when you're put on hold on the phone.  As a whole, it felt "safer" than I was expecting - it feels like parent approved rock and roll, with it feeling more related to the 40s big band style than what came after.  I'm sure that those who understand these things better than me will scoff at my reductionist nonsense, but I didn't enjoy this nearly as much as I enjoyed Lonnie's music history lesson.  But with twelve tracks in thirty minutes, I certainly...

The latest in an occasional series of theatre reviews... Kate  : Soho Theatre My sister worked for Soho Theatre before it was even up and running and I went to a few things back in the day but I haven't been in many a long year, so I was looking forward to revisiting it.  I also fancied seeing this show after having read an interview with Kate Berlant in The Guardian  which said that the show was initially directed by Bo Burnham, who is a man with quite some talent with a comedy show . We start the evening climbing the stairs to the theatre decorated with a load of life(ish) size pictures of Kate - I get the feeling we're not in for an evening in the company of a shrinking violet (how unusual for a comedian, eh?).  And when I go in to take my seat - well, you should see what they've done with the decor! Yes, it's still a black box - it's not exactly aesthetic, but  it is practical.  The screen displays various vignettes of Kate doing silly things, until fi...

Continuing my trip back through the 1956 album charts. 16/12/56 : High Society OST  - Bing Crosby/Frank Sinatra/Louis Armstrong Another film I've never seen (I had to check whether it was based on a musical originally, but no) - I know there are songs in it I know, but couldn't tell you what they are off the top of my head.  I'm expecting something with Bing, Frank and Louis to have a pretty high quality level though. Yeah - some of it sounds a bit dated, but there are decent enough songs on there.  "What Wants To Be A Millionaire", "True Love" and "Well, Did You Evah!" were the ones I knew and they're all decent tracks - the rest of them do somewhat suffer in comparison, but Louis is always good value when he appears (although there's more than a whiff of token comedy negro involved).  Again, I won't be rushing back to it but it was all perfectly bearable. Off on a tangent, this album reminded me of the very enjoyable Red Hot + Blu...

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's   top 50 films of 2022 #17 :  You Won't Be Alone Spellbinding horror movie from director Goran Stolevski, a witch story that follows a shapeshifter in a 19th-century village. I've never heard of this one - but it's my first Macedonian language film, so I think I can be forgiven for that.  As with the last film, I'm not convinced I have the right temperament for a horror film - but things worked out very well last time, so fingers crossed. We follow Nevena who has a very boring childhood - promised to a witch as a new-born (and made mute at the same time), her mother brings her up in a cave until the age of sixteen when the witch reappears, takes the form of her mother and turns her into a witch as well.  I mean, we've all been there, right?!? Unfortunately, Old Maid Maria (the original witch) isn't too impressed with Nevena's witching skills - she prefers playing with the animals rather than breaking their necks and e...

Continuing my trip back through the 1956 album charts. 23/12/56 : Showcase  - Lonnie Donegan I know Lonnie was a skiffle dude and (I think) I can even tell you that "Rock Island Line" was one of his early tracks, but apart from that I'm in the dark here. Well at 8 tracks and 26 minutes, it really doesn't outstay its welcome.  And I didn't mind it at all - you can hear the links with what Elvis was doing at the same time using their voice effectively over minimal instrumentation and how they both came to influence many acts over the coming years.  You can almost hear Elvis singing "Nobody's Child" - the internet suggests that a version by him might exist out there (without offering any actual evidence) but it has definitely been recorded by a load of other people including Hank Williams Jr, Billy Fury, a very early version of The Beatles and The Travelling Wilburys.  Back to the album, I can't say I'll be rushing back to it but I enjoyed it as...

Something old and something new... Back in the mists of time (forty years ago!) a small band from Hull released a very fine single indeed - I think I might have paid full price for Red Guitars' " Good Technology " and they even got the video played on The Tube as part of their Hull music special (ah - I miss The Tube).  I also picked up their second album in the Our Price bargain bin and remember quite enjoying it - although Wikipedia tells me I really should have brought their debut album. And that, I very much suspected, was that - until their name came up on the "anyone want free tickets?" list at work and they were playing The 100 Club, which I'd always fancied going to (it's been hosting live music since 1942, so I really should have made it there by now).  Hence I found myself heading into London on a Sunday evening (very much against the crowds) on somewhat of a magical mystery tour - unsure what I might experience both in terms of the venue and t...